a very technical problem
by skyewart
Summary: „Aw, you're totally crushing on him." Jemma says teasingly. „No." Skye replies indignantly. She wants to tell her best friend, that Cheekbones was just a customer, someone she'll probably never see again. Instead she says, „Maybe a little." (or 'I've been breaking my phone on purpose just because you work at the help desk AU')
1. Chapter 1

"Hi, how can I help you?" Skye asks, trying but failing bitterly to sound chipper and happy to be here. She's been sitting behind the counter for about four hours and her stomach is growling.

"I need a new charger." Replies the girl, who looks about sixteen.

"What model do you have?" Skye asks, standing up.

"An iPhone." The girl says and Skye almost, almost manages not to roll her eyes. "Of course you do."

"Excuse me?" The girl asks and Skye gives her a fake smile. "They've changed the charger on the newer models, so which one is it exactly?"

"The newest." The girl says spitefully. Skye grabs it from behind the counter. "There you go."

The girl pays, bags the charger and leaves without another word.

Skye goes back to sitting and counting the minutes until her shift is over. There are worse things to do, she thinks, besides it pays the bills.

It takes about half an hour before the next customer comes in. He's tall, really tall and before Skye can help herself, she starts grinning. Finally some action in here.

He walks over to her, his eyes taking in everything and Skye notices that his cheekbones are rather nice looking.

"Hi, how can I help you?" She says and this time, she gets the tone right.

His eyes find hers. "My phone broke." He says and he sounds kind of lost.

Skye stands up and leans over the counter. "What happened and can I see it?"

He nods, pulling it out of his pocket and handing it to her. "I'm not really sure. I was checking my mails and then it just stopped working."

"Hmm." Skye bites her lip, as she turns the phone in her hands. She presses the power button, but the screen doesn't light up.

"Please tell me you can fix it." He says and Skye looks up at him. His brows are pulled together and he looks really worried.

"Important data?" Skye asks and he just nods. "Even if I can't fix the phone, I should be able to recover the data. I promise."

"Thank you." He actually smiles at that. It's a small, timid one, but it makes Skye's heart flutter.

After twenty minutes, in which his eyes never leave her (his gaze feels like the sun shining on her, so it's impossible not to feel it), she's done. The phone's up and running again. Skye's proud and he's relieved.

"How much do I owe you?" He asks, when Skye hands him back the phone. Their hands brush and it feels like her skin is on fire. The good kind, though.

Skye's tempted to say that it's free of charge, but it's not her equipment that fixed his phone. So, she names the price and he pays it.

As she watches him leave, Skye decides that her shift wasn't so bad after all.

—

Skye tells Jemma all about the him (she's nicknamed him Cheekbones) while they have a drink at their favorite bar. It's Monday evening, so it isn't too crowded.

"Aw, you're totally crushing on him." Jemma says teasingly.

"No." Skye replies, indignantly. She wants to tell her best friend, that Cheekbones was just a customer, someone she'll probably never see again. Instead she says, "Maybe a little."

Jemma laughs and Skye finishes the rest of her drink. "Enough about me and my super interesting job, though." Skye says, putting the empty glass down. "How are things at the lab?"

Jemma groans at that. "Fitz is still mad at me. Can you believe it?"

Now it's Skye's time to 'aw'.

Jemma rolls her eyes. "He's being ridiculous. I apologized at least ten times, but he still wants me to swear that I will never ever dissect something in our lab again."

"Isn't that kind of your job?" Skye asks, frowning.

"Yes!" Jemma agrees. "That's what I told him."

"You know Fitz, he can't stay mad at your forever. Remember that time I accidentally ruined his favorite shirt? He didn't pick up my calls for three days."

That actually does cheered her up. "You're right."

—

Skye hates the morning shift. Especially on Fridays.

It means that she has to get up at six in the morning and be at store at seven. She has no idea why a store that sells phones and accessories needs to open that early. But, well, it pays the bills.

She's always been a rebel, so even though it is strictly forbidden to eat or drink when behind the counter, (you can go in the backroom, if you need to) Skye stashes an open bag of mini pretzels in the shelf under the counter and sips her coffee, sitting in the chair.

Five hours and forty-five minutes to go.

Time passes excruciatingly slow, but somehow she survives and when her latest customer leaves, Skye grabs a pretzel and pushes it into her mouth. Only half an hour to go.

That's when Cheekbones comes in.

Skye actually chokes on the pretzel and he looks a little concerned. "Are you okay?" He asks and Skye nods, coughing.

"I'm fine." She manages to swallow the pretzel and smiles. "Did you break your phone again? Or do you just want to spend time with me?"

He stops mid-step, looking flushed. She's not really sure which of her question has caused the reaction.

"Um, there's something funny going on with my phone." He says and Skye notices, that he hasn't answered her question.

"Alright, let me have a look." Skye says, and now that she's not choking on pretzel pieces, she's back to being chipper. Also, she definitely has a crush on him. Great.

He hands her the phone and their fingers brush again. This time though, they linger. Skye looks up at him and finds him watching her, too.

Neither of them moves for a moment, their hands touching, their eyes trained on the other. Then Skye swallows and pulls the phone from his hand. "So, what happened?"

"It caught some rain through the open window." He explains quickly.

"Oh." Skye sighs. "I'll probably have to send it in. They might wipe the phone."

"That's okay, after what happened on Monday, I made a back-up." Cheekbones says.

"Good thinking." Skye pulls a sheet of paper from behind the counter and her eyes fall on the pretzels. Acting impulsively, she grabs the bag and holds it up for him. "You want some?"

And that's the second smile he gives her. Nodding, he fishes a pretzel from the bag and pops it into his mouth. Skye forgets that she has a job to do, as she watches his jaw move.

Shaking herself mentally, she puts the sheet of paper between them. "You need to fill this out."

"How long will it take until I can have my phone back?" He asks.

"Probably a week." Skye guesses. "You'll have to pick it up yourself though."

"No problem." He says and pushes the paper back to her. "All done."

"Until next week then." Skye says. "Want a pretzel to go?"

"Thanks." He takes it and with another heartwarming smile, he leaves.

Skye stands there, watching after him for a long time, before she shakes herself (this time physically) and goes back to work.

Damn Cheekbones.

* * *

><p><em>AN: cross-posted on ao3 under the same pen name. Come find me on tumblr._

_Reviews are like coming home after a really long and hard day._


	2. Chapter 2

Skye knows his name now. It was on the sheet.

_Grant Ward_

She has his name in her mind for the next week.

And during one particularly boring shift, Skye kept saying his name out loud, just the get a feel for it. (She definitely didn't use his last name after her own name, no. That would be stupid, and childish.)

Whenever she thinks of him, she has this weird feeling in her stomach. She guesses it's true what people say, it feels like there are butterflies in there.

But when she arrives for her afternoon shift on Friday, the day Grant Ward is supposed to pick up his phone, her co-worker, Miles, tells her that he was already here.

Disappointment floods her and she spends her whole shift being grumpy.

Afterwards, she decides she needs a drink. Fitz and Jemma are talking again, so they will probably be at the bar. Skye had told them, she wanted to stay in today, but now.. well, she needs a drink.

—

„You should have just asked him for his phone number." Fitz says, somewhere around there third round of drinks.

„Fitz, his phone was broken." Jemma replies, before Skye can.

„Oh, right." Fitz mutters.

„I'm gonna go get a refill." Skye says, still feeling grumpy. „Do you want something?"

„We're good." Jemma says quickly.

Skye walks up to the bar, leaning against it.

„You're quick today." The bartender, Lance, says, giving her a flirtatious smile.

„Yeah, I had a shit day at work." She just shrugs.

„Another vodka tonic coming right up then." He says dutifully and fills a new glass for her. "On the house."

"Thanks." Skye looks around, while Lance works and freezes when she sees, who is looking right back at her.

„Grant." She whispers, not loud enough for him to hear. (She isn't even sure, if she meant for him to hear.)

He looks just as surprised to see her here, but with a quick word to his friend, he comes over to her.

„Fancy seeing you here." Skye says and somehow the bad mood, that has plagued her all day, is gone.

„I could say the same thing." Grant replies.

„There you go, Skye." Lance interrupts the intense way Grant was looking at her.

„Thanks, Lance." Skye replies.

„Come here often?" Grant asks her, his eyes back on her.

She smiles sheepishly. „Yeah."

„Skye.." He says and she loves the way Grant Ward says her name. After a few moments, Skye realizes that the two of them are just staring at each other, not talking.

He licks his lips and she can't help but follow the motion. When she looks back into his eyes, he smiles.

Skye feels hot all of a sudden. „Uh, so, um, how's your phone doing?"

He chuckles at that and Skye decides right there that Grant Ward's chuckle is the nicest sound, she's ever heard. „Fine."

„That's good." Skye says. „Well, it was nice meeting you, but I need to get back to my friends." She wants to kick herself for saying that, but what else is she supposed to do? Ask him to ditch his friends and make out with her? (It doesn't really sound like a bad idea.)

„Oh, yeah." Grant replies, and looks like he's just remembering that he wasn't here with Skye. „Me, too."

„Bye." Skye says and makes her way back to Jemma and Fitz.

„Who was that?" Jemma asks, when Skye sits down.

„Grant Ward." Skye says and she swears, she didn't mean to make it sound like a dreamy sigh.

„He does look as good as you said." Jemma says. And then she gasps and slaps Skye on the arm. „What the hell are you doing here? Go talk to him!"

Skye leans away from her. „No, he's here with his friends."

„So?" Fitz asks. „So are you and you've done nothing but talk about him or pout all night."

„Well, I like him. He's just interested in my capabilities to fix his phone." Skye says and even as she says it, her mood plummets again.

—

„They are leaving." Jemma says. An hour has passed and Skye has finished her fourth drink. She feels a pleasant buzz and spent the last hour thinking about just going back to the bar and kissing Grant Ward.

„Honestly, Skye." Jemma says, looking over at her. „If you like him so much, why don't you just ask him out? What's the worst that can happen? He says no? He stops coming to you with his phone problems? At least you'll have an answer."

She slumps further into her seat and sighs. „I don't know, Jemma. I'm tired."

„Me, too." Fitz agrees.

—

On Tuesday, Grant Ward comes back to the store.

He smiles as he walks up to her and Skye can't help but stare at him. „What happened this time?"

„Cracked screen." He says in defeat and hands Skye the phone. „That'll be another week." She warns him, resisting the urge to let go of the phone and grab his hand.

„I figured." He says, and fills out the sheet Skye gives him.

Jemma's voice comes back to Skye, while she watches him bend down a little to scribble on the paper. „_If you like him so much, why don't you just ask him out?_"

Usually Skye has no problem being bold, but something about him makes her hold back. Maybe it's the way she feels, when they look at each other.

„Skye," He says and Skye's eyes snap back to him. „I was thinking-"

„Do you wanna go on a date?" Skye says, no the words burst out of her mouth. "With me, I mean."

His eyes widen and then he smiles. „I was just about to ask you the same question."

„Really?" Skye asks and the butterflies in her stomach go wild. „Well, in that case, I'd love to."

„Me, too." He says and Skye laughs.

* * *

><p><em>AN: cross-posted on ao3 under the same pen name. Come find me on tumblr._

_Reviews are like the feeling you get when putting on your glasses after staring at your computer screen for hours._


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